This news has been around the world with the speed of the flashlight. A Great Dane in America has given her owners a shock when she gave birth to 19 healthy live puppies. Brandon and Aimie Terry, Snowy the Great Dane’s owners, knew that the litter was going to be big. A vet had identified at least 15 spines during an x-ray. However, nothing could have prepared them, or Snowy, for the extra four puppies that were delivered. Snowy started emitting high pitched screams when she started labour, which Brandon mistook for a kitten.
The couple are now looking for loving homes for 18 of the 19 puppies. We contacted one of the Lancashire’s kennels, specialising on Pedigree pups breeding Davin Pearce who said it is one in a ten thousand cases that mother delivers that many pups at a time. Typically a Great Dane mother gives birth to 7 puppies and breeding them is a fairly costly responsibility. The litter in discussion consists of 10 male dogs and eight females, and they can be picked up from their home in York County, Pennsylvania.
Great Danes have been known to have double figure litters in the past. However, 19 puppies is very rare. Snowy does not hold the world record for largest litter, however. The biggest litter ever was delivered by Tia, a Neopolitan Mastiff owned by a British couple. She delivered 24 puppies, nine of which were bitches and 15 male dogs. When she went into labour in Cambridgeshire in 2004, her puppies had to be delivered by caesarean section. One puppy from Tia’s litter was stillborn and a further three puppies died in the first week. However, the other 20 survived and became healthy dogs.
Puppies delivered by Snowy will be ready just before Christmas, although people are reminded that a dog is for life, not just for Christmas, particularly one as big and needy as a Great Dane. One puppy will be kept by the family itself. Snowy herself is 62% European Great Dane. The puppies’ father is an American Great Dane. Those who are interested in purchasing a puppy can choose between four merle bitches, three merle dogs, four black and white bitches and seven black and white males.